Alaska athletes: parlaying prowess into cash and a life after competition.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: GENERAL

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MARK SCHLERETH

It's not very often that soap operas and professional athletes are part of the same story. But when Mark Schlereth, fourth-generation Alaskan and former all-pro football guard for the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos, took on the role of Roc Hoover for the daytime drama Guiding Light, fans and jock colleagues weren't about to let that career move go unnoticed without some good old locker room ribbing.

But the 220-pound very tall, dark and handsome retired offensive lineman and entrepreneur takes it all in stride. "I've made an idiot out of myself many times on national television and I'm not afraid to do it again," he said laughing about when ESPN showed his first clip three years ago.

Born and raised in Anchorage, Schlereth graduated from Robert Service High School in 1984 and was raised in the hillside home his parents Herb and Janette still live in. Although most of his summer months are consumed with his son's baseball career, he says Anchorage will always be home. He tries to make it to Alaska at least once a year to do some fishing and see family, including his sister who is a teacher in Palmer.

Schlereth was the first native Alaskan to play in the National Football League when the Redskins drafted him in 1989 in the 10th round out of the University of Idaho. After six seasons with that team, followed by six with the Broncos, he retired in 2002 after his 29th knee surgery, chalking up 156 games, three Super Bowl wins, and being chosen for the Pro Bowl twice. He also distinguished himself as one of only 15 players to win Super Bowls in each NFL conference and one of 35 to win the title with two different teams.

Since then, living the life of a retiree is about the only thing he's not doing. In 2001, he joined ESPN as an analyst for the shows NFL Live, Sports Center and ESPN News, bringing 12 years of playing experience to the shows. When he got a call from Guiding Light--at first he says he thought it was a prank--he couldn't pass up the opportunity to expand his TV presence by playing a former New York detective turned crime novelist who does dirty work policing the fictitious town of Springfield. Since leaving football, he also hosted his own Denver sports talk show for three years and he currently writes a weekly column for the Washington Examiner and a biweekly article for ESPN Magazine called The Marksman.

JUST CHILLIN'

When he's not working in media, he is the real-life leading man in three other scripts, the least of which is being a family man. He and his wife Lisa--formerly Lisa Redmond from Girdwood--live in Denver and have three children: Daniel, who was recently drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks; Alex, an actress living in Los Angeles; and Avery, who is still in high school. When the family began following Daniel's college baseball career, Schlereth got the idea for a reality series called Reality Stinks that is a docudrama on his family life through his wife's eyes. He is currently in the process of finding a buyer for the series.

Mark Schlereth's Stinkin' Good Green Chili, now available in 300 stores in Colorado and being marketed to other outlets nationwide, came about when David Bloom, owner...